Thursday, January 19, 2012

FRINGE

When my second, my replacement, HD converter box died last week (older tv, no cable) I needed time to decide what my best choice might be. Yet another short-lived box or an HD-enabled small, flat-screen tv? Either seemed frivolous, for now. Meanwhile, I'm watching for the second time, as the signal-bereft set does act as a monitor, season one of FRINGE. In the first season, we have not yet been shown the East River vortex, which scares the bejeezus out of me every time I see it. Whirlpools and watery vortexes do that.

Fox is grumbling about the cost to produce the show, which it, Fox, scheduled to appear on Friday nights when the audience is notoriously small. The show reminds me of early X-FILES, and while I am not a fanatic, I am a fan.

My son tells me of fan sites and message boards for the programs we enjoy, or did enjoy before they were cancelled, of just how wrapped up in and dogmatic about the invention viewers become. Between FRINGE, current and earlier, and Hulu's access to the newest JUSTIFIED, I've been reminded why I generally lean toward fiction. Perhaps more so now as I find myself saying, "I don't know," twenty or more times a day in response to everything. Everything.

My states of unknowingness may likely remain that way; there aren't answers to questions I ask. Is Steven Hawking right and will mankind only survive by colonizing space and is the most remote possibility of that more than 100 years away? Will there ever be anything resembling harmony between our political parties again? Did Congress really pass a bill that allows the government to detain without charges or explanation - and in an undisclosed location - anyone who fits any profile of what may constitute a terrorist? When did a quart of brand-name ice cream start to cost more than $10.00? When did access to a computer begin to equate with the likelihood of becoming a best-selling author? Why are we being told relentlessly that we need coaches for everything from what to wear to, especially, how to promote ourselves and all the things we are supposed to be trying to sell?

In fiction, someone who knows their craft ties up the loose ends. Someone - or in the case of tv, a team of them - knows how things turn out. They reveal to us, an episode or a scene at a time, why or who.

It is not that I need answers to all my questions to feel comfortable. I believe that much of life is intended to be a mystery, but come on. I can tell the difference between an existential unknown and deliberate misdirection, intentional lies. For now, the unsettling FRINGE universes seem less baffling than my own.

Antares - It is my most honest answer, and the one most frequently expressed. And we, too, are still grumbling about FIREFLY ("I'll be in my bunk."), among others. Apropos of almost nothing, we've finally begun to watch DR. WHO...years of catching up, oh, what a chore. :)

Rubye - It is because dumb things seem to rule - I hope it only seems that way - that dumb has stopped being a choice, if it ever was. Big difference between not knowing and not caring, don't you think? :)

I'd like to think that if we cared, we would try to know. But in reality there is so much nonsense about, such as coaches for how to dress, etc, that it makes it very difficult to pay attention. And then, with the things Congress is doing, it makes it rather scary to ask too many questions.However, I love the questions you ask here.

Rubye - Thank you. We will never run out of questions. It is the unknowability (I assume that's a real word, and apologize if it isn't) of so many things that creates the void where knowledge once lived - where and how do we find out what's true about the most enormous issues? One asks, but the answers aren't to be found without devoting all our waking hours to the task. I am not a candidate for that assignment.

I'm overwhelmed by what is reported and promoted in the media. It makes me want to run away and hide. Not a very courageous reaction, but I'm tired of pointless fuming, letter-writing and lung-deep moans.

Antares - I will have to pay attention to the titles. Yes, The Doctor is a bit silly a lot of the time, no real sense of peril. For writing that had us shrieking this week, 30 ROCK. So wonderful because it doesn't have to make any sense at all. :)

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About Me

“i want to think
again of dangerous
and noble things.
I want to be light
and frolicsome.
i want to be improbable
beautiful and
afraid of nothing
as though I had
WINGS.”
-- Mary Oliver
"The whole of life lies in the verb seeing."
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
(1881 - 1955)